Rhodopsin Molecular Evolution in Mammals Inhabiting Low Light Environments

Zhao, Huabin; Ru, Binghua; Teeling, Emma C.; Faulkes, Christopher G.; Zhang, Shuyi; Rossiter, Stephen J.

For nocturnal taxa, we sequenced 15 species of bat (Order Chiroptera) comprising five non-echolocating fruit bats, four species that exhibit high-duty-cycle echolocation and six that exhibit low-duty-cycle echolocation [55] . These two forms of echolocation are broadly found in separate divergent clades [56] . For subterranean taxa, we sequenced three species of African mole-rat as well as the related non-burrowing cane rat. We also sequenced a subterranean afrotherian (golden mole) and, for comparison, a non-burrowing afrotherian (elephant shrew). For aquatic mammals we obtained the published sequences of four pinnipeds, nine cetaceans, the manatee and the sea otter. Finally, to ensure our phylogenetic trees included a range of branch lengths, we also obtained the published sequences of an additional 12 carnivores, three ungulates, ten rodents, one rabbit, five primates, three afrotherians, three marsupials and one prototherian. For details of taxa and accession numbers, see Table S1 , Supplementary Material online.